1.09.2007

Closing a chapter

Four years ago, I started up Brewtown as a general blog about politics, sports, and pop culture from a Milwaukee perspective. Over time, it evolved into its current incarnation with an emphasis on politics.

Since I've started the site, the Iraq war started, the 2004 election occurred, and the Democrats took back Congress among other developments. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have taken the time to visit this site over the years. Hopefully, it has had something to offer you and has played a small part in raising issues and moving our community and country forward.

With that, Brewtown Politico is going into hiatus. I have ideas in mind for my next venture, but haven't decided whether it'll be a blog or something different. I'll continue to see some of you down at Drinking Liberally, and elsewhere. Until then, best wishes.

1.05.2007

Hegerty out in November

She has served in that position since being appointed in 2003. It appears that Hegarty has had strained relations with the rank and file, and Mayor Tom Barrett. The Frank Jude beating was the beginning of the end, and now the Fire and Police Commission and the mayor will have some time to consider a new candidate.

The police chief can't control everything. Considering how many of today's violent crimes are being committed by people with obvious anger management issues, the problem has to be confronted on multiple levels. A new police chief can raise the bar though, and set a new course for dealing with the problem.

1.04.2007

Heh, nice.

From the "Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out" Department, the New York Post reports that incoming House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charlie Rangel has sent Dick Cheney packing from his "palatial" digs just off the House floor.

The office has traditionally belonged to the Ways and Means Committee chairman, but Republicans lent it to Cheney when he became vice president. According to the Post, Rangel was so eager to oust Cheney from the space that he sought approval for the move from Nancy Pelosi within hours after the polls closed in November.

The Vice President is the president of the Senate under the Constitution, and has an office on that side of the Capitol, but he has no business occupying office space on the other end in the People's House. Well done.

1.03.2007

MN Congressman will use Koran at swearing in

Incoming Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) will use a Koran rather than a Bible at his swearing-in on Thursday. He is the first Muslim member of Congress, and will get to use a Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

Rep. Virgil Goode, a Virginia Republican who represents the area where Jefferson lived, was one of those who criticized Ellison for wanting to use the Koran, calling for strict immigration policies specially crafted to keep Muslims out of the United States.

The English translation of the Koran from Jefferson's collection dates to the 1750s. Jefferson sold his collection to the U.S. Congress after its library was lost when the British burned the Capitol during the War of 1812. Much of his collection was destroyed in an ensuing fire in 1851 but the Koran that Ellison will use survived, Dimunation said.

12.31.2006

Edwards on Hardball

I'm not backing a horse in the 2008 race yet, mostly because we don't yet know who all the candidates are. That being said, John Edwards is already running an aggressive campaign and engaging voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and across the country. ConnecticutBLOG captured a recent appearance on Hardball.

12.30.2006

Disputed Florida race not over yet

Rep. Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat who has pushed for better safeguards on electronic voting machines, said on Friday he would make a procedural point to establish the swearing-in of Florida Republican Vern Buchanan does not prejudice ongoing challenges by his Democratic opponent, Christine Jennings.

"This is a district, Sarasota area in Florida, where there's no way of knowing whether the result presented by Florida's secretary of state is valid. In fact, I think there is significant evidence that it is not," Holt told reporters.

Buchanan was certified the winner of the November 7 election by a 369-vote margin. Oddly, about 18,000 ballots in Sarasota County had no votes recorded for the disputed House race, while other races on those ballots were voted on.

The disputed Florida seat had been held by Republican Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record), the former Florida secretary of state who certified George W. Bush as the winner of the disputed 2000 presidential race in Florida overAl Gore.

12.29.2006

CIA officer: Saddam will be a martyr

"It doesn't matter to the Sunni that Saddam is guilty of the crime he's charged with: the massacre of 140 Shi'a villagers in 1982 in reprisal for an attempt on Saddam's life. At the risk of oversimplification, the Sunnis think the Shi'a villagers deserved it. It was that kind of rough justice that Saddam used to keep Iraq together.

Nor do the Sunni care that Saddam is guilty of a lot more bloodshed, from gassing the Kurds at Halabjah to the invasion of Kuwait. Nor do they care he was a catastrophically incompetent leader who more than the United States led to their downfall.

All they care about is this: as the current war grinds on, as Iraq's death toll starts to approach Saddam's deadly legacy, as the Sunnis lose more and more of their power, as memories fade, Iraq's Sunni will think of Saddam's rule as a golden era. They'll remember Saddam as the leader who kept Iraq together, kept them on top and prosperous, kept the Shi'a and the Kurds in their place, and kept the Iranians from invading during the Iran-Iraq war."

Madison officials had inquired about this since domestic partner benefits are offered to city employees. As the article mentions, Lautenschlager's declaration is advisory, but courts often rely on such opinions to render decisions.

12.28.2006

Quote of the Day: Ford on Iraq edition

"I don't think, if I had been president, on the basis of the facts as I saw them publicly," Ford said, "I don't think I would have ordered the Iraq war. I would have maximized our effort through sanctions, through restrictions, whatever, to find another answer." -President Gerald Ford

12.27.2006

RIP President Ford

In 1974, then Vice President Ford succeeded Richard Nixon who resigned following the Watergate scandal. Ford had been appointed to the job of VP after Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after pleading no context to tax evasion making him the only unelected president in American history. Until then, Ford had served in the House of Representatives as a Congressman from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was 93.

La la la

"We're not winning, we're not losing."

There's your commander in chief George Bush, Jr. after only last month saying that we were winning in Iraq. Rather than exhibit leadership, he's been the cheerleader who is years behind coming to grips with his failed crusade.

"Most of the pessimistic warnings from the mainstream media have turned out to be right — that the initial invasion would be the easy part, that seeming turning points (the capture of Saddam, the elections, the killing of Zarqawi) were illusory, that the country was dissolving into a civil war."

12.19.2006

Battle: 1 War: 0

For the supporters of the marriage amendment in November's election, civil unions are not dead in Wisconsin like many of them had hoped. While the amendment did include civil unions, the debate goes on. From the Cap Times:

Young voters - particularly college students - tended to be overwhelmingly against the amendment, and heavy turnout on some UW campuses was credited with helping Democrats regain control of the state Senate.

"Everybody looks at this and feels it's just a matter of time. Young people clearly don't have the same" views as older voters, Doyle said. "It's a generational thing."

I have nothing against AirTrain. They've carved out a niche as a budget airline, and have done quite well. However, as any Milwaukeean who flies out of Mitchell airport knows, Midwest offers Milwaukee direct flights to a lot of cities. Many of these routes would be at risk with a buyout from an outside firm. Also, as someone who is on the taller side, Midwest's four across seating is a godsend.

Add to that the fact that a buyout would result in Milwaukee losing another major local company to an outside buyer, and I think you can count it as a net loss for the community.

Full disclosure: A few more flights on Midwest, and I'll be eligible for a free roundtrip ticket.

Sen. Johnson recovering from surgery

Johnson's condition, also known as AVM, or arteriovenous malformation, causes arteries and veins to grow abnormally large and become tangled.

The condition is believed to affect about 300,000 Americans, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The institute's Web site said only about 12 percent of the people with the condition experience symptoms, ranging in severity. It kills about 3,000 people a year.

It sounds like he's doing well from the report. The story is making big news, because if Johnson needed to be replaced, Gov. Mike Rounds (R-SD) would likely name a Republican giving control back to the GOP in the Senate. As happened after the 2000 election, a 50-50 tie would give the deciding vote to Vice President Dick Cheney.

12.12.2006

Dems freeze earmark spending

This is a good thing. Appropriations chairmen Rep. David Obey (D-WI) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) have said earmark requests from Senate and House members will be frozen until appropriate lobbying reforms are passed.

Congress adjourned Saturday after failing to finish its work on the 2007 budget. Work will have to be completed on it in January when control of the House and Senate is turned over to the Democrats.

12.08.2006

Jim gets demoted

Outgoing House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) will relinquish the gavel when the Republicans become the minority party in January. He was reportedly seeking a position as the Ranking Member on the committee in the new Congress. Unfortunately for Jim, that position will go to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX).

12.05.2006

Thank you Lincoln Chafee

With the Senate wrapping up business under Republican control, George W. Bush had called for Bolton to be renominated for the job. Outgoing Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee which has jurisdiction over the matter, publically opposed Bolton. This led to the committee headed by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) refusing to hold a vote on the nomination once it became clear the votes weren't there for an endorsement.

11.29.2006

Sporadic blogging ahead

I have to head out of town for work for the next week so blogging may be sparse.

For now, I leave you with a fascinating Charlie Rose show about the human brain. It covers a wide range of subjects ranging from the psychotherapy of Freud to perception and cutting edge brain research.

A stupid debate

I have to wonder what it is with guys like Rush Limbaugh, President Bush, and others insisting that the Democratic Party be called the Democrat Party. Here's what Limbaugh was saying on his show yesterday about the matter.

"Well, uh, ladies and gentlemen, they are not the Democratic Party. I know what they're trying to accomplish here. They're attempting to kill two birds with one stone by having the title of their party have Democrat as a root word, but Democratic itself is a word that conveys action and conveys philosophy and conveys behavior, all of these things, versus the Republican Party."

"Is it really fair for one party to have a title or a name that implies they are a certain kind of people at the exclusion of all other political parties? That's why they want this to be utilized in that way, because it implies something, it states something about them that it doesn't state about the Republicans."

Wow, jealous much? If the Republican strategy has devolved into ideas like not acknowledging the very name of the opposition party, no wonder they lost control of Congress.

11.28.2006

A WWI movie worth seeing

It was released last year, and is based on the true story of the Christmas Truce of 1914. During World War I, on Christmas Eve of that year, a group of Scottish, German, and French soldiers called a cease fire for the evening so they could observe the holiday, share gifts, have mass together, and bury their dead.

The characters in the film speak in English, German, and French with subtitles where they're appropriate.